People v. Mouser CA6

I. INTRODUCTION

Defendant pleaded no contest to infliction of corporal injury on a cohabitant (Pen. Code, § 273.5, subd. (a)).1 He also admitted that he had three prior strikes (§§ 667, subds. (b)-(i), 1170.12) and had served a prior prison term (§ 667.5, subd. (b)). After the trial court denied defendant’s motion to strike two of his strikes pursuant to People v. Superior Court (Romero) (1996) 13 Cal.4th 497 (Romero), the court sentenced him to prison for 25 years to life for infliction of corporal injury, plus one year for the prior prison term enhancement. On appeal, defendant contends the trial court abused its discretion by denying his Romero motion. For reasons that we will explain, we will affirm the judgment.

1 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise indicated.

II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. The Current Offense in 20122 Defendant and the victim had lived together off and on for 10 months. Defendant was 43 years old and the victim was 45 years old. On September 16, 2012, the two were arguing when defendant put his arm around the victim’s neck and strangled her by lifting her off the ground. The victim started to lose…